SINKEX….
PHILIPPINE SEA (October 1, 2019) -- An AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-surface missile is fired at the former USS Ford (FFG 54) from a United States Navy MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter during a sinking exercise (SINKEX).
               An MH-60R fires a Hellfire missile.
U.S. Navy ships, aircraft and a submarine, and Republic of Singapore Navy ships fired at the target ship....a frigate retired from active duty in 2013.
It’s not uncommon for retired warships to be used as targets....both for realistic targeting training and for proper disposal of the remaining hulk. The target ships have been carefully prepared for sinking....with removal of all toxic materials, fuels, and anything else that could be harmful to the environment.
This SINKEX is part of a biennial exercise conducted in the waters near Guam....aimed at enhancing combined proficiency at sea while strengthening relationships between the U.S. and Republic of Singapore navies.
The safety observer: A naval aircrewman aboard the MH-60S helicopter observes the missile firing pictured in the top two images above.
A few miles/kilometers away....the Target: retired U.S. Navy frigate USS Ford (FFG 54)....about to be, literally, buried at sea in some of the world’s deepest ocean waters (miles/kilometers deep).
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>>Photos: Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Christopher A. Veloicaza, USN
>>Note: Several of the warships that I called “home” -- sometimes for years -- during my Naval career have been used as SINKEX targets. In a way, it’s heartbreaking to see a ship you worked so hard to operate in the most polished and professional manner possible, get used for target practice....and, ultimately, sent to the bottom of the ocean. But, it is, of course, a much more honorable burial for a retired warship....than sitting pierside and rusting for decades....or being broken up into razor blades on some foreign beach.
